Student Learning Centre - Study Tips

Get the most out of your study time

Plan

Before you start, go through a couple of sessions, get a sense of what it looks like, where things are and you might want to use it.

Your plan should include short, frequent breaks away from the screen. You can use the breaks to reflect on the material, but also to simply take a pause to refresh yourself.

Organise

Maintain an effective file storage system where you can easily find your downloaded documents and notes.

Take notes

Read through the succinct and focused content, reflect on it and then paraphrase it in your notes in a way that is meaningful to you.

Instead of highlighting text, simply cut and paste key words/information into a Word document – REMEMBER this is no substitute for taking good notes…. And you can use text highlighter in the downloaded documents, to emphasise key words.

Additional resources

All the core learning is contained within the Student Learning Centre, but you will need to follow the links to downloadable content or to external sites, that provide information on, e.g. FRS etc.

As with any reading, use your judgment – read the learning outcomes (the new verb tables will help you) and choose carefully what you pay attention to – it’s a skill you will need in your career, not just for passing exams.

Interact and engage

Use the Ask the Tutor and the topic discussion forums: having something explained in a slightly different way can help tricky topics click into place. Asking questions and sometimes getting things wrong, does help us learn (as long as we get to the answer eventually!).

Complete the self assessments and learning activities. Asked to stop and think? Then stop and think!

Revise, Revise, Revise

Revising at regular intervals reinforces learning, so when you have completed a study session, give your self a couple of questions to answer on it each week: don’t leave it to the last minute. Use the Passcards:

Where’s the Study Lounge gone?
Everything that was in the Study Lounge can now be accessed on the Student Learning Centre including

  • Past papers*
  • Examiners reports and model answers
  • Study aids

As well as topic specific discussion forums, you can continue sharing the highs and lows of your study experiences in the general discussion area.

Students are reminded that the postings they make to the Discussion Forums are seen by all. While we all need to ‘let off steam’ from time to time, CIPFA is a professional body and expects its student members to behave accordingly. Using language that could cause offense to others or making inappropriate statements is not what the Discussion Forum is for. Please read your post carefully before pressing that submit button!

*You can still access Past Papers and Examiners Reports from the current students home page